Public Relations Industry Paper
Dino Borghi
Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University
PRL 206: PR Principles and Practice
Prof. Caroline Reff
March 27, 2024
The world of public relations is something that is constantly trying to influence the people around them but must adapt to the specific audience that a company or firm is trying to target. In this paper, I will go over the influences PR has had on me, the evolution and the history of PR and I will share my interview with a PR professional and his tips and tricks on succeeding in the field of public relations.
Influences
Public relations is seen in everyday life more than the average person realizes. I am influenced by PR, and I am sure some of the examples I name will sound familiar to any reader of this paper. Spotify Wrapped is a huge form of PR that tends to go over people's heads even though it is PR. When a person posts their Spotify Wrapped for the year (a recap of their music listening history from the past year) Spotify adds a hashtag saying #SpotfiyWrapped (Spotify, 2023). This allows anyone to just look up that hashtag on social media, and see what other artists people listen to, and so on. Spotify Wrapped is a form of PR because it relays the features of Spotify to the public in a manner that is fun and lighthearted. For example, someone who is a big fan of Taylor Swift is going to want to know what percentage of listeners listened to Taylor Swift, more or less than them. The properties of PR that I believe are the most effective are relevance and honesty. Honesty in public relations is crucial because if a company or person gets a reputation for lying, then no one will trust the information they distribute anymore. Relevance, I also believe, is important because if a person is not relaying anything relevant to the public, then no one will care. If a person reports on something relevant and important, the public will want to look at the information they are relaying which is the whole point of public relations. So, when relevance and honesty are paired together, I believe they are the two most effective and crucial properties to have. I believe that my strongest skill will be my people skills. Ever since I was young, I could connect with anyone I met on a personal level. I could empathize with their situation and be understanding. Another skill I believe will be strong for me is my ability to think on my feet. Whenever it comes to a stressful situation or something that needs to be done on the fly, I tend to produce some of my best work. I have no problem with working under pressure, but sometimes when it comes to working on the fly, it leads to one of my biggest weaknesses which is procrastination. I tend to wait until the last second to do some of my assignments which does not help me in the long run. As of now, it has worked out for me, but it is something I plan to work on in the future. Another weakness I have is the depth of my research. If I must research a topic, I will do good research, but sometimes I do disappoint myself because I read it over and realize I could have dug deeper into it but just decided not to. My weaknesses are things I strive to improve, but I try to overpower them with my strengths.
History and Evolution
Public relations overall was started by the pioneer Belle Moskowitz, and the first usage of PR was with The Empire State Building. Belle Moskowitz was the first woman to serve as a public consultant and to open her PR firm. The Empire State Building PR campaign was huge to the evolution of public relations because it was during the Great Depression. The idea behind the Empire State Building campaign was to help boost the morale of all the people in New York City and the country who just felt hopeless. The point was for all the people who felt there was no hope, to get just a sliver of optimism about the engineering and the construction process America was developing (Page & Parnell, 2017). PR has evolved from news presses of the Empire State Building, to now seeing pictures of it on various social media platforms and the internet in general. Sending out news releases to journalists is shrinking and the digital world is expanding. This requires PR professionals to now think outside of the box. With all the new technology and AI, it is not so easy to always come up with innovative and creative ideas. A specific example of a brand evolving in PR is Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola was first introduced to the public as French wine cola, and it was said to be an “intellectual beverage.” This drink contained cocaine and people started to become very addicted to the drink, and it encouraged binge drinking versus how it was relayed to the public as an intellectual drink. French wine cola was shown to the public through newspapers and different press releases. Pemberton on his deathbed sold the rights of Coca-Cola to Asa Griggs Candler, and Candler started marketing it to the public. Candler started printing Coca-Cola logos on every single household item one could name. He wanted everyone to always have Coca-Cola in their minds (Regaudie, 2022). Coca-Cola's short film, The Coca-Cola Company - New Guy:90, only released two months ago, portrays a man being the new guy at a family dinner and he brings a six-pack of Coca-Cola. The principle of wanting everyone to think about Coca-Cola stays the same, but it is portrayed differently. Coca-Cola has a diverse cast in this short film, and they portray a large family dinner with an awkward new guy. So, they are still trying to get everyone to think about Coca-Cola, but they are doing it by targeting every audience they can in 90 seconds (Storer, 2024). In the future, I believe the possibilities of artificial intelligence are going to bring many new creative ideas. I feel AI can also be damaging to the world of PR, but if used correctly it will be helpful. AI will be able to generate thousands of campaign ideas in seconds, but then again this could also affect job opportunities soon shortly. I was lucky enough to interview a PR professional who gave me his thoughts on the PR world.
PR Professional
Laurence Kalinsky is a PR professional who is currently a partner for P3 Smart City Partners Inc. He has many responsibilities being a partner which include managing the media and communications of the company, developing new business related to the media, investing and finding partnerships and crafting communications that the company uses externally. Mr. received his undergraduate degree at Tufts University and continued his education at the University of Southern California where he earned his Master of Business Administration. He has worked in PR for 27 years working in corporate communications internal and external and investor relations. The specific skills needed for his job are being able to manage up and down, knowing how to operate social media, and all other types of communication, and having good people skills. They are all crucial for him to be successful in his position. What Mr. Kalinsky enjoys about working in PR is the concept of having to craft an impactful message and that every single word matters; he doesn’t enjoy that sometimes it can be a pain constantly altering different messages to appeal to different audiences, but it is a part of the job. The biggest thing that stuck with me was when he said, “Make sure you understand why you’re going into PR,” (Kalinsky, 2024). This resonated with me because he stressed the importance of understanding that everything you see in the world is some form of PR, and if you cannot find a way to have a lens for that, it will be difficult to thrive in PR.
In conclusion, public relations is everywhere, and I need to figure out a way to develop a lens for it. The history and evolution of PR can aid me in developing such a lens for noticing different types of PR in my everyday life. Noticing and understanding my strengths and weaknesses in PR also are going to help me tweak my skills to notice the different types of PR, and how I can advance myself in the world of PR.
Works Cited
Anonymous. (2023, December 2). Spotify wrapped success through clever marketing tactics. Brand Vision. https://www.brandvm.com/post/spotify-wrap-2023#:~:text=Spotify%20leverages%20social%20media%20engagement,and%20celebrate%20their%20musical%20discoveries).
Page, J. T., & Parnell, L. J. (2017). Introduction to Public Relations. SAGE Publication, Inc.
https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/books/9781544392028
Regaudie, T. (2022, June 28). Coca-Cola Marketing: Then and now: Banknotes. RSS. https://hashtagpaid.com/banknotes/coca-cola-marketing-then-and-now
Storer, C. (2024, January 2). The Coca-Cola Company - New Guy :90. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIiXHrP67Rs
email:Laurence.kalinsky@p3smartcity.com
